Mercedes-Benz do Brasil reaches a new milestone: 400,000 buses sold in Brazil

Mercedes-Benz do Brasil has just reached a milestone of 400,000 buses sold in the country since 1956, when the company began producing buses in its São Bernardo do Campo plant, São Paulo. From then on, the company has experienced a solid growth path being the traditional market leader for many years in the internal sales with 53% market share in September 2010.

“This new milestone shows the importance of the bus business for the company, and highlights our leadership in the country’s market“, says Jürgen Ziegler, president of Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. “With this significant sales volume, we have been contributing to the Daimler Buses business, the world’s leader in bus sales”.

The milestone of 400,000 buses sold in Brazil was symbolically reached by a O 500 RSD chassis. This vehicle, delivered to Viação Cometa, is one of the 123 chassis O 500 units acquired by this customer in 2010.

Appropriate for intercity and tourism operations, the O 500 RSD chassis, is known in the market for its excellent performance due to the low fuel consumption and operational cost of the Mercedes-Benz electronic engine. The reliability and durability of the power train and advanced concept of its integrated pneumatic suspension ensure high levels of comfort to the passengers.

“It is a pleasure to deliver the 400,000th bus to Viação Cometa, which has been an effective partner of Mercedes-Benz since 2002, when our brand vehicles were chosen for the fleet renewal by the customer”, says Joachim Maier, sales vice-president of Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. “The purchase of 123 units of the O 500 chassis represents also one of the largest volume sales of our brand intercity buses this year”.

The largest Latin American bus manufacturer
Mercedes-Benz do Brasil is the largest bus and truck manufacturer in Latin America and the biggest plant of the brand’s vehicles outside Germany. The Brazilian plant is also the Daimler center for the development and production of bus chassis. Furthermore, it has also the largest Technological Development Center of Commercial Vehicles in Latin America.

The company offers the most complete line of buses with over 20 models for the different demands of urban and intercity passenger transportation. This supply includes models that go from minibuses, microbuses or conventional bus chassis to heavy vehicles, such as the intercity bus chassis and the articulated vehicles for large passenger volumes.

Bus sales leadership
With the sale of more than 12,000 bus chassis from January to September 2010, Mercedes-Benz continues as the Brazilian market leader, holding a market share of approximately 53%. This sales volume is 40% higher than that of the same period last year.